The Greatest Blessing: An Exposition Of Psalm 32

The Greatest Blessing: An Exposition of Psalm 32

David was a man who knew the heights of blessing. He was a man after God’s own heart. God chose him, even though he was the least of his brother and set him upon the throne of Israel. He stood up to Goliath and the Philistines. He knew how to dance with joy before the LORD. Truly David was a blessed man. But what was the greatest blessing? One could see something like the capture of Jerusalem, for example. We always are attracted by blessings like this. But David knew a greater blessing. We will see what this greatest blessing when we examine the 32nd Psalm.

For all of the spiritual heights David experienced, David also knew the utter depths of spiritual despair and sin. The killing of Uriah the Hittite to cover up the adultery with Bathsheba comes to mind. As a result, his family was cursed. The son Bathsheba bore died. Ammon raped his sister Tamar. Absalom killed Ammon in revenge. Absalom usurped the throne and was killed by Joab. Even after his death, Adonijah had to be executed for treason against Solomon. A plague came on the people for David’s sin of numbering the people. These are just some of the difficulties his sin caused. Add to this the many troubles he had with Saul, his wife Milcah, the Philistines and other problems also weighed David down.

The blessings of wealth and power are transitory. But there is a blessing that is not. We see this from the very beginning of the 32nd Psalm. Verses 1 and 2 make a parallel statement to describe this blessing. “Blessed is he whose sin is covered.” There is a priestly idea of the covering of sin. The sinner could come to the place where the LORD’s presence was displayed and offer a sacrificial animal as a sin offering. The blood of this animal atoned for this sin when presented in an attitude of faith in Yahweh. This is the way the LORD had established for Israel. The sinner believed he or she could present this offering as a covering of sin.

The next statement states the parallel idea: “Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.” The words “sin” and “iniquity” are similar in meaning, but the fact that different words are set in parallel indicates that they interpret each other. What is the difference? The rest of verse two sheds some light upon this: “in whose spirit is no deceit.” There is an internal dimension to sin as well as an external one. Jesus said that external manifestations of sin derive from an evil heart. The sacrificial system satisfied the external penalty for sin. This is what Luther calls “external righteousness.” We see this kind of justice when a criminal has “paid his debt to society.” There is an external restoration, but this does nothing to address the root cause as to why the transgression happened in the first place. The threat of punishment or public humiliation does help to suppress acts of sin. So this dies serve a useful purpose as if people were allowed freely to exercise the depravity of their heart, the world would be worse than it is already.

David got caught in his sin by the LORD by Nathan the Prophet. He would be exposed to public humiliation. This was later seen in his son Absalom lying with David’s concubines in public amongst other things. The external consequences served as an example to all Israel. But the issue of the heart had to be addressed. He was called a “man after God’s own heart.” But David’s heart was far from God. We see this in the 51st Psalm which is a prayer of repentance based upon the incident. We also see it here.

David was a man haunted internally by his sin. In some ways, this is a good thing, because a person who can sin without regret is a person beyond redemption. Hebrews tells us we should rejoice when the LORD chastises us. This is because a father disciplines his own children and not someone else’s. David was still in covenant relationship with Yahweh. Likewise, we should take comfort when the LORD troubles our heart when we sin. We need to address this lest our conscience be burned to the point we cannot feel our depravity.

David had tried to subvert his conscience by remaining silent. Yet the LORD caused his bones to roar. The LORD would not let David sweep his sin under the rug. It does not say that a person who tries to cover his or her own sin is blessed after all. The LORD’s hand was heavy upon David all day and all night. It wasn’t just being exposed by Nathan. He was already greatly troubled with his sin before Nathan exposed it. It is a great act of God’s grace when he hounds you in your sin. The chastisement is not pleasant, but it is soul saving if one repents. He felt a thirst like that of being in the desert on a hot summer day. David vividly paints the picture of his suffering.